


Sonny at the Plaza

by inthheightlive



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Multi, chip is also included this (dog OC created by @pike-ace on tumblr)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 08:03:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12008502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inthheightlive/pseuds/inthheightlive
Summary: This story follows a young boy as he stirs up trouble for his cousin, a hotel manager, and the son of a mayor.ELOISE AT THE PLAZA AU





	Sonny at the Plaza

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thanks for taking the time and reading my stupid little Eloise AU. As you can probably infer, Sonny is the role of Eloise in my story. A couple of notes regarding his character, though; his vocabulary is little larger than Eloise's, and a six year old in general. It may seem a little out of character for him to be saying such large words, but we know how intelligent Sonny is in the canon musical, so I decided to transfer that on to here. 
> 
> **I do not know how long this story will be yet, I'm still finishing up the ending. It basically follows the plot of the Eloise movie, with a little tweaks here and there. There will NOT be any romantic feelings with Sonny and Pete in this story specifically, but in the future I may create a "10 years later" segment. 
> 
> ALSO!! If you want to talk more about this AU with me, follow my tumblr! @inthheightlive ! ENJOY!!

A rather large pigeon floated it's way down to the window ledge of the top floor of the New York City Plaza, peering into the open window beside it. Inside, a little boy lay in his bed, snoring lightly. The pigeon let out a loud coo (although, it sounded more like a shriek), making the little boy's eyes fling open. He sat up, scrambling to take off the 'Do Not Disturb' sign he hung around his neck every night.

_I am Sonny, and I am six. I am a city child. I live in the Plaza Hotel in New York City with my dog, Chip, my friends, and my cousin, Usnavi. Speaking of my cousin..._

"USNAVI!" Sonny screamed. All the way across the suite, a man sat up out of his bed, his eyes wide and his mouth breathing heavily. He groaned, putting a hand to his head and stumbling out of his bed, sliding his slippers on and trudging to Sonny's room.

"Sonny, please stop screaming. It always manages to give me a small heart attack every morning." Usnavi said as soon as he entered the room, walking over to close Sonny's open window when he shivered from how cold it was. Chip jumped up and pawed at his legs.

_My cousin is 24 years old. For such a young grown up, he is rather tense all the time. He says it's because of me, but I know he wouldn't trade me for all the money in New York. Usnavi really does have an active imagination. He seems to overdramatize everything. Sometimes, I feel like he's a bigger drama king than I am._

"Sorry, I just woke up feeling refreshed. Today is going to be a busy day. First, we must get dressed. " Sonny announced, as he marched into his bathroom. "Brush our teeth, comb our hair," He paused, sniffing Usnavi pointedly and scrunching up his nose. "And some of us need to take a shower." His remark made Usnavi blush heavily.

Sonny quickly got dressed in his usual attire; black dungaree shorts, a freshly ironed white button down, white crew socks, his black oxford shoes, and his favorite red bowtie. He marched out to the living room after brushing his teeth and taming his wild curls and slipping his signature hat on backwards. He saw Usnavi stumble out of his room, his grey tweed flat cap halfway on his head, his button down half-buttoned, and a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

_Usnavi never gets dressed as fast as I do. I race him everyday, and he always loses. He's a rather sore loser._

"Aw man!" Usnavi yelled, after taking his toothbrush out of his mouth. "He beat me, once again. I'll get you next time, troublemaker." He poked Sonny in the ribs gently, making the little boy giggle.

"May I call room service?" Sonny asked, but it was useless, he was going to anyway.

Usnavi nodded and Sonny raced to pick up the phone and dial the room service number.

"Hello, Sonny." Jonathon said on the other end. Jonathon was the room service operator. He wrote down the orders and gave them to the chefs.

"Hi, it's me, Sonny. I would like two extra buttery croissants, an english muffin with jam, two cooked sausages," Sonny paused as Usnavi let out a grunt as he fell onto the couch. "And two rather hot coffees. Please make one of the coffees sweet and sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Charge it please." He hung up, bouncing back on to the couch with his cousin.

"Why did you order two coffees?" Usnavi asked, and Sonny pulled up his socks.

"One for Vanessa. The sweet one with cinnamon." When Sonny said this, Usnavi almost choked on his toothbrush.

"How do you know her coffee order? And what makes you think I'll be able to give her one?" He asked, exasperated.

"Because," Sonny smiled, looking at his toy watch on his wrist. "Vanessa passes our suite at exactly 9:24 am every morning. If you open up the doors at that time, you'll be sure to offer her the coffee. And sometimes I follow you when you have dates down in the dining room."

"You little..." Usnavi narrowed his eyes and Sonny shot him his most innocent smile.

_My cousin has the biggest crush on our neighbor, Vanessa. She is very pretty, and practically out of his league. He says he doesn't have a crush on her, but when I say her name he always gets red in the face and stutters a lot. It's so obvious._

"You need to finish getting ready. You can't offer Vanessa coffee in that." Sonny pushed his cousin back into his bedroom, slamming the door shut and waiting on the couch for the food to arrive.

A good ten minutes later, Usnavi walked out, looking better than he did earlier. Sonny clapped, high-fiving his cousin. As soon as this happened, a rhythmic knock came from the front doors. Sonny gasped happily, climbing down from the couch. "It's Benny!" He yelled, running to the doors and opening them.

A man with a tux came in, pushing a cart full of food. With one hand, he pretended to play the trumpet as he imitated the instrument with his lips. "Good morning, Sonny." He grinned.

_Benny is a waiter at the Plaza. He is also my best friend. Benny takes acting classes every Tuesday, when he's not waiting tables or attending to guests. They're really paying off._

"Benny! Benny! I had a crazy dream last night."  
Sonny climbed up on the couch arm, so he was the same height as Benny.

"You did? What was it about?" Benny asked, looking interested.

"It was about a brave knight and his loyal steed." Sonny smiled, putting his hands on his hips. Benny gasped, twitching around until he grabbed Sonny's legs and the little boy wrapped his arms around his shoulders, laughing wildly.

Benny galloped around the suite, neighing like a horse. Sonny pretended to wield a sword, waving his hand and laughing. "And then the horse died!" Sonny yelled, jumping off Benny's back. The man gasped again, rolling onto the floor and pretending to die.

"But then, the brave knight touched the horse's nose and the horse was brought back to life as a unicorn!" Sonny yelled, tapping Benny's nose. The waiter neighed again, jumping up and using his finger as his 'unicorn horn.' Usnavi laughed from where he was at the table.

"And they lived happily ever after, the end!" Sonny grinned, and Benny gave him a high five.

"What a dream, little man. Well, duty calls. See you later." Benny grabbed the cart once all the food was off of it, walking out the front door.

Sonny was still laughing. As he caught his breath, he checked his watch. "Usnavi!" He gasped. "It's 9:23! Vanessa is going to cross the hallway any second. Go, go, go!" Sonny picked up the coffee and gave it to his cousin, opening the door for him.

"Wait, Sonny, I don't think-" Usnavi caught himself off as he found himself face to face with a girl with long brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a smile that made his heart thump loudly in his chest. "Vanessa!" He practically yelled, smiling goofily.

"How are you, Usnavi?" She walked toward him and he shrugged, the stupid smile still stuck on his face.

"Same all, same all." He giggled nervously and Vanessa chuckled in return. Usnavi's eyes were so solely focused on Vanessa, that he didn't seem to realize when the coffee was slowly tipping backwards onto his shirt.

"Oh my god, Usnavi, be careful!" Vanessa said quickly, her eyes going wide, but it was too late. The coffee had been spilled onto Usnavi's new beige button down shirt.

Usnavi muttered a curse word as his face flushed red. He stumbled on his words and looked back up at a worried Vanessa. After completely panicking, he turned around and went back into the suite, shutting the door in Vanessa's face.

"Usnavi, you idiot." He mumbled, breathing heavily and setting the coffee cup down.

From behind the couch, Sonny sighed, slapping the palm of his hand on his forehead.

_Seeing my cousin stumble over his words and make a complete fool of himself in front of his crush was funny at first, but now it just makes me sad. I wish he had the guts to really ask her out, instead of just having friendly tea dates every now and then. I want to help him, but I need a plan first. To come up with a plan, I need to do my morning rounds._

"Alright, Navi, go change your shirt. I'll be back in half an hour to help you with your Vanessa problem." Sonny pushed him into his room, for the second time that morning. "Actually, while you're in there, take that shower I mentioned earlier." He shot him a sweet smile, patting his back and making his way out of the suite.

_Every morning I make my morning rounds around the Plaza. First I go downstairs, then I say hi to all my friends, then go back upstairs. I try and make my morning rounds as long as possible so I can "accidentally" miss my lesson with my tutor, Lincoln, but today, I will just have to push through and learn something. For Usnavi._

Sonny skipped down the hallway, drumming his hands on all the doors as he passed them. People opened their doors after he hammered on them, confused and sometimes angry.

"That damn kid..." One of the old men on his floor muttered as he passed him. He got to the elevator, pressing the button repeatedly until the door opened up and he saw Max. Sonny galloped in, smiling widely. "Lobby please!"

_Max is the elevator operator. Every day I try and get him to at least laugh or crack a smile, but every day, I fail. His job is to press buttons, stare straight ahead, and not say a word. He's very good at it._

"Hey Max...this morning I was thinking of just leaving the plaza tonight and breaking into the nearest taxi I find. I really want to learn how to drive. And where could I learn best, but New York." Sonny flashed him a grin, but Max seemed unfazed, not even a thumbs up. Sonny let out a groan and rolled his eyes as the doors opened up. He walked out of the elevator, smiling innocently at the hotel visitors in the lobby.

He walked up to the front desk, where Carla worked. She was Daniela's assistant. Miss Daniela managed the hotel. Sonny pushed past the customers in front of him to make his way to the desk.

"Hello, Miss Carla. Do I have any messages for me today?" He asked. Carla smiled at the sight of him.

"Actually, we do." She responded, grabbing a blank piece of paper from the shelf underneath the desk. "The governor of New York wants you to cut the ribbon to the grand opening of the new and improved Times Square." Carla 'pretended' to read.

Sonny let out an overdramatic sigh and put the back of his hand to his forehead. "Dear me. Please pass on to the governor that I wish I could, but I cannot. My ribbon-cutting fingers have been sprained. I deeply apologize." He waved and Carla waved back, smiling softly.

Sonny ran over to the other side of the desk, pushing past the hotel customers once again. They always gasped and muttered profanities at him. "Hello, Miss Daniela!" He screamed, ringing the call bell on the desk over and over again.

"Oh my god," Daniela sighed, putting her hand on the bell so he couldn't ring it anymore. "Good morning, Sonny."

_Daniela owns the entire hotel. She's very nice, when she's not stressed out. She has to stay very serious for customers so she can help them, but I know she likes to gossip a lot. It's good to get her out of her shell at times._

"Is there anything I should know about today? Any events? Anything I can help with?" Sonny smiled brightly and Daniela smiled.

"I don't think so, Sonny. But even if there was, I doubt I would tell you. I bet Benny and Marco need help." She patted his head affectionately. Sonny smiled widely, showing his missing front tooth.

He ran off, toward the kitchen. He skipped past the doors, inhaling the fresh smell that the kitchen always had. Sonny grinned, sliding across the floor and hopping up on the table where Marco was frosting cupcakes.

_Marco is the head chef. He is in charge of getting all the food to the hotel residents. Sometimes I come help. Other times I stay and eat the meringue if I deserve it. I usually do._

"Hello Marco!" Sonny smiled, eyeing a frosted cupcake in front of him. Marco glanced over at him and chuckled.

"Good morning, Sonny. Take the cupcake if you want, we have dozens of replacements." Marco nudged him. "Just don't tell Usnavi I let you have one."

"Thanks Marco!" Sonny grabbed the cupcake, taking a bite and walking further into the kitchen. He spotted Benny and ran over to accompany the waiter. "Hi Benny. Marco gave me a cupcake." Sonny took another bite as Benny balanced a tray full of food on his hand.

"Save a bite for me. I'll be right back, gotta deliver this." He winked and walked out of the kitchen. Sonny shrugged and hopped up on the table again, purposely eating the entire cupcake.

"Did you save me a bite?" Benny rushed in, making Sonny laugh and shake his head, throwing the cupcake wrapper at him. "You little rascal!" Benny grabbed his waist and threw him over his shoulder, making Sonny laugh very loudly and causing all the cooks and waiters to stop and look.

"Benny, not during work." Marco called and Benny sighed, setting Sonny down.

"Sorry, little dude. See you at six? I'll need help delivering room service dinners." Sonny nodded enthusiastically at this, and Benny ruffled his hair.

-

Soon, it was the end of Sonny's morning rounds. He galloped his way back to the elevator, pressing the button over and over again. The doors opened, after forever, and Sonny grinned mischievously at Max and marched inside.

"Top floor please, Max!" He yelled, crossing his arms. Max pressed the 18th button and the doors closed. Sonny glanced up at Max, who was still staring straight ahead. He cleared his throat, before flinging his limbs around and letting out a low groan.

"Max...I think...I'm having a heart attack..." Sonny moaned, dropping to the ground like a dead animal. "Tell my cousin....I love him...and he smells like an armpit..." Sonny pretended to die as the doors opened up on the 18th floor.

"You're good." Sonny huffed as he stood up, clicking his tongue at Max and skipping out. He did cartwheels down the hallway until he ended up in front of his suite's doors. He knocked repeatedly, hearing Usnavi groan from inside. Sonny grinned, seeing his older cousin open the doors.

"Sonny, that wasn't half an hour. It was more like an hour and a half." Usnavi shut the doors behind him.

"Whatever. I'm here now. And you smell better, I'm glad you-" Sonny cut himself off as he stopped, seeing legs in front of him that didn't belong to Usnavi. "Oh, man."

"Hi, Sonny. Ready for your lesson?" Lincoln smiled, bending down to Sonny's height.

_Lincoln is my tutor. He's Usnavi's age, but he's still in college apparently. He tutors me so he can get some money, although he tells me that's not the case, and he just loves to teach me. I know that's a lie. It's the biggest lie I've ever heard. Lincoln teaches me Spanish. My Abuela is in the Dominican Republic, with the rest of my family. One day, I want to go there. But for now, I learn Spanish with my tutor and my cousin._

"Okay, repeat after me. Me gusta comer pollo y arroz." Lincoln said perfectly. Sonny rolled his eyes, repeating the phrase back to him, with carelessness.

"Sonny, let's focus." Lincoln sighed.  
"Sonny, let's focus." Sonny mocked him.  
"That's not funny, please stop."  
"That's not funny, please stop."  
"Sonny, I'm serious. You're being childish!"  
"Sonny, I'm serious. You're being childish!"  
"That's it, you asked for it."  
"That's it, you asked for it."  
"USNAVI!"  
"USNAVI!"

Usnavi rushed in, eyes wide. He relaxed when he saw no one was hurt, crossing his arms. Lincoln picked up his stuff, stomping up to Usnavi. "You must tame this one. He can't keep slacking off like this."

"Of course. Um, Lincoln, why don't we cut this lesson short? Sonny needs to attend to some chores." He patted Lincoln's shoulder comfortingly, leading him to the door.

Sonny rolled his eyes and walked over to the couch, waiting for his cousin to stomp over and lecture him once again about slacking off on his studies.

"Navi, why can't YOU teach me Spanish? You know it fluently, it seems stupid to hire someone to teach me." Sonny pouted and Usnavi sighed, sitting next to him.

"I can't teach you, Son. You and I both know you'd do the exact same thing with me that you do with Lincoln. Maybe even worse." Usnavi joked, making Sonny laugh.

"You're probably right. I'd make you pull your hair out." Sonny added on, then stood up quickly. "Well, now that that's over, it's time to start your love lesson."

"My what?" Usnavi sat up, raising his eyebrows.

"Remember, your love lesson. So you can actually ask Vanessa to coffee. And to stop stuttering and blushing all the time. Let's go practice down in the dining room." Sonny grabbed Usnavi's hand and led him out of the suite, to the elevator.

-

"Usnavi, pretend I'm Vanessa. Take a deep breath, and just speak to me like you would if I was your crush." Sonny sat up taller in his chair and smiled.

Usnavi instinctively shushed him, sitting up as well and feeding Chip a piece of muffin next to him.

_The Plaza is the only hotel that will allow you to have a husky. Chip is a very tame husky, he always helps me and Usnavi. Everyone loves him, so Mr. Rosario lets me keep him in the hotel._

"That's not going to work, Sonny." Usnavi rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his soda next to him. "First of all, you're my six year old cousin who I have no problem speaking to. Second of all, this lesson is stupid."

"You're stupid!" Sonny retaliated immediately, then widened his eyes when he realized what he said. Usnavi narrowed his eyes and Sonny chuckled nervously. "I didn't mean to say that. Just a reflex, Navi."

"Whatever, Son. Let's get this over with." Usnavi took a breath. "Um, Vanessa," he started, closing his eyes. "Do you think we could, maybe, go out on a date that doesn't involve coffee sometime? It'd be real nice." He opened his eyes to reveal Sonny, sitting in his seat with his legs crossed, his eyes batting.

"Stop it! She doesn't act like that." Usnavi burst out laughing. "You're such a six year old."

Sonny laughed as well, sitting back into his normal position. "Well, I am six. Oh my goodness!" Sonny exclaimed all of a sudden, slamming his hands on the table. Usnavi jumped. "I haven't said good morning to Mr. Rosario and Nina yet! See you in ten, Navi. Wait here." He whistled to Chip as he lept out of his seat and the husky followed him to the elevator, leaving an annoyed Usnavi back at the table with the check.

-

As soon as Sonny walked into the office, Chip in tow, Cornelia narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Uh uh. No way. Turn around and go back to where you came from." She shooed him and he gasped mockingly, pretending to be shocked.

"Well, my dear, Cornelia. Is that how you treat a simple messenger?" Sonny pouted and Cornelia raised her eyebrows.

"What do you want, Sonny?" She deadpanned and the boy smiled innocently.

"Marco sent me. They had another fire incident in the kitchen. Just burned their entire bread stock. They need you." This piece of news had Cornelia jumping out of her seat, the gullible woman she is.

Sonny snickered, watching her run past him and down the hall to the elevators. She had to get all the way downstairs and into the kitchen, find out there was no fire, whine about Sonny for a good four minutes, then make her way back up. He had ten minutes to strike up a conversation with the owner of the Plaza and his daughter.

However, Sonny stopped dead in his tracks as he entered the giant office. Inside, Mr. Rosario was standing at his desk, Nina nowhere to be found. But he was talking to two very large men. They looked taller than trees from the back!

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of him here. He won't even notice he's staying at a hotel, that's how good our service is here. Sonny!" Mr. Rosario said suddenly, snapping Sonny out of the daze he was in. "Just the little man I was hoping to see. Come here."

Sonny glanced at Chip, then back at Mr. Rosario. He started to walk toward the man, around the two taller men, when he was face to face with a boy around his age, maybe a little older, wearing suspenders (of all things!) and a red shirt. He cringed inwardly.

"Sonny, this is Pete. Mayor Ellison’s son. He is eight years old. That's only two years older than you. How about you show him around?" He clapped the boy on the shoulder and Sonny looked at him incredulously, as if to say, 'What the heck are you thinking, man? Me? Of all the children at the Plaza?' Mr. Rosario shot him a look back, as if to say, 'If you get him or yourself into any trouble, so help me God.'

Sonny shrugged and turned back toward Pete, who looked incredibly nervous. He held out his hand, smiling sweetly. "Hello, I'm Sonny de la Vega. I'm six. I live here at the Plaza."

Pete smiled back, shaking his hand. "I'm Pete Ellison. I'm eight. I live in upstate New York."

Sonny giggled, nodding. He ushered down to Chip. "This is Chip. He's my husky. The Plaza is the only hotel that will let you have a husky." He whispered the last sentence, as if no one but Pete could hear him.

"Oh cool! I have a hamster! Do you think the Plaza will let me have my hamster?" Pete asked and Sonny nodded, grinning. Mr. Rosario laid a hand on Sonny's shoulder.

"Well, you two seemed to be hitting it off. Sonny, why don't you give Pete the grand tour of the Plaza, then bring him back here so he can get his suite number."

"Okay! C'mon, Pete!" Sonny started running out of the office, Pete hot on his trail. Sonny could hear Mr. Rosario continue to talk to the two tall men in black suits that stood behind Pete, confusing him. He shrugged, then stopped.

"You..." Cornelia growled, pointing to Sonny. He chuckled nervously, taking Pete's wrist.

"First rule of staying at the Plaza. Never get caught if you cause trouble." Sonny whispered under his breath and Pete laughed out loud. Cornelia's face was turning red by the second, and the two boys took off running toward the elevator. Chip ran after them, barking happily.


End file.
